April 29, 2013 - Inner Moonlight is now available!

After five hours of formatting (according to Smashwords Style Guide), I officially published Inner Moonlight last night!  It is available this morning through Amazon and will also be available on Smashwords, soon.

I have to toot my own horn here for a minute.  I enjoyed writing Bonds of Matrimony; but I really loved writing Inner Moonlight.  The idea occurred to me while I was beginning another project.  I found myself driving in my car, haunted by possible scenes and conflicts.  Finally, I got tired of simply taking notes and dumped the other project to begin this book.  It came together rather quickly, and I'm very proud of the end result.

To do full justice to the story, I hired Laura Gordon (http://bookcovermachine.wordpress.com) to create my cover.  She specializes in design for the fantasy genre, but I love what she's created for me on this contemporary piece.  I could not be happier.

That's not true.  I will be even happier if readers enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

So take a look and feel free to contact me through my website with any feedback.

Thanks!

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INNER MOONLIGHT

After playing the role of the perfect wife for 16 years, Elena Mazur is devastated by the death of her husband.  She struggles with the relief she finds in her new freedom and the guilt she feels over his accident.  She finds comfort in the arms of J.P., her husband's estranged cousin.  While she cannot deny the attraction she has felt toward this man since they shared a passionate kiss as teenagers, she knows that her husband, his law partners, and his family would never forgive her for acting on that attraction.  Can Elena finally accept that she's worthy of true love and passion, or will she continue to strive to meet the rigid standards she sets for herself in an effort to please her dead husband?

April 25, 2013 - SECOND NOVEL IN FINAL EDIT STAGES!

That's right!  My second novel, INNER MOONLIGHT, is in the final stages of editing.  I had originally planned for a May 1st release, but I might even get it out as early as April 29.  Watch for it on Kindle.  I am also breaking into the Smashwords market to see how sales compare.

In other changes, I've hired a delightfully talented artist to design my book cover.  It has been a joy working with her.

I also have discovered the Author Marketing Club and plan to make full use of my new membership.  They send promotional emails to members with some excellent recommendations.  They also have fantastic marketing tips and links for indie authors.  www.authormarketingclub.com

I really am proud of INNER MOONLIGHT and hope that readers enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.  The story line haunted me for weeks until I finally moved another project to the back burner and got started right away.

For more details, check out my website at www.carriganfox.com

April 12, 2013 - One Week After Free Promo

It has been exactly a week since my free promotion ended with Kindle Select, and the results have been good.  I began the week ranked at #234,752 on Amazon.  And by the end of the week, I had ranked as high as #28,322.  I also received a favorable review from someone I do not know.  And I am on track to triple my sales for April.  

It really is motivating to track those numbers and imagine where I'll be in a year.  The plan is to get another four books completed within the next six months.  The first will be INNER MOONLIGHT, and I am pushing myself to complete the manuscript and publish next month.  I'm getting close.

Following that will be a paranormal trilogy that involves three women with the sight who must fight to save the people they love and the future of their country.  And when a prophesy is shared with an extremist militant group hell bent on destroying the nation, they realize that destroying the MaCall women must be the first step.

INNER MOONLIGHT

Elena Mazur is the perfect wife.  Having met and fallen in love with her husband when they were only fourteen, she has dedicated nearly sixteen years to trying to be the woman that she felt he deserved.  Now approaching thirty, she gradually begins to realize that she has cultivated a fairly miserable life for herself.  But before she can untangle all of the knots, a devastating accident takes the life of her husband.  She flees to a run-down lakeside cottage and struggles with the relief she finds in her newfound freedom and the guilt she feels over the loss of a wonderful man.  And her mixed feelings become even more complicated when she realizes that her husband’s cousin and childhood friend lives across the lake.  While she cannot deny the attraction she has felt toward this man since they shared a passionate kiss as teenagers, she knows that Alec would never forgive her for acting on that attraction.  So does she continue attempting to live up to the expectation as the perfect wife? Or does she follow her heart?

FIRSTBORN (Book 1:  The MaCall Prophesies)

Jac MaCall is forced to leave her world of aromatherapy and healing crystals to work for her father's security company.  What seems to be a random robbery turns into a battle to save not only the high strung Will Archer, but to also protect his future firstborn, a child destined to save the nation.  And when Jac gets a vision of her own future with the irresistibly uptight Dr. Archer, it becomes evident to everyone involved that she will play a bigger role in the destiny of the firstborn.

SECOND SIGHT  (Book 2:  The MaCall Prophesies)

Taryn MaCall is honored to call herself godmother and aunt to the prophetic golden child.  And when an old friend turns against the MaCalls, Taryn finds herself the target of the very extremist group that had tried to kill her sister and brother-in-law three years before.  Having always relied on herself, she now struggles with learning to trust Gray Campbell, as well.  She must remind herself that keeping the Archer child safe must be her first priority, and keeping her heart safe must run a close second.

TRIPLE THREAT  (Book 3:  The MaCall Prophesies)

In a world where the most powerful nation now crumbles, Teddie Archer's values seems idealistic and impractical.  But there are those who believe in Teddie's vision and see her as a threat that needs to be eliminated.  

In the meantime, don't forget to check out BONDS OF MATRIMONY, available now on Kindle!  And please feel free to email me at foxcarrigan at gmail dot com to offer suggestions and give feedback.  Or submit your reviews directly to Amazon.

April 10, 2013 - Sales Update after KDP Select Promo

My two-day free promo on KDP Select ended five days ago.  In the five days immediately following the promotion, my sales have tripled!  I can now only hope that sales continue to increase at this rate.  Next month, with the release of INNER MOONLIGHT, I will be trying another promotion to replicate this continued growth.

April 6, 2013 - Self-Publishing Promotions

I just ran my first free promotion on Kindle Select and had much more exciting results than I expected.  I did some research in this area to see what kind of results others had experienced, but I wasn't able to find many concrete discussions.

I ran my single book for free for two days only, on a Thursday and Friday.  With my romance genre, I have definitely been experiencing more sales on weekends, which I suspect might have something to do with the my audience of modern working women looking to kick back with a good, sexy book over the weekend.  So I wanted to run it just prior to what are typically my busiest days.

On Thursday, sales came in extremely quickly, with nearly forty sales each hour.  The vast majority of those were US sales.  On Friday, my US sales slowed down dramatically while the international sales increased.  I suspect that the international sales didn't pick up until my Amazon rank went through the roof, which took a day longer (not accounting for time difference).  Even in the last two hours of my promotion, I picked up a good number of international sales, leading me to conclude that the next time I run a promotion, I will run it for three days to allow more time to pick up more international sales.  In the end, I ended up giving away 1600 copies of my first book, which is thrilling.  Granted, I wasn't making any money.  I did, however, get to see my book in the Top 20 list for free books in my genre and I get to enjoy the knowledge that 1600 people all over the world are now reading my work.  And approximately 10% of my sales were international.

For anyone else interested in running a promotion, I would recommend a three-day run, at least.  I also would recommend having at least a second book for sale to pick up any readers who enjoy your style.  And in terms of which days I would recommend selecting, I stand by my decision to end the promotion on Friday, the day before my personal busiest sale days.  Give it time.  It's only mid-day Saturday.  My sales have not miraculously gone through the roof...yet.  But hey, it's early, right?

In terms of the role these promotions have in the argument for and against self-publishing, they are huge.  Because of the expense of printing a hardcopy of your book, it simply isn't cost effective to give away 1600 free copies of your book.  With e-publishing, getting your work and your name out there in the world is a huge advantage; and writers absolutely must take advantage of every opportunity offered.

FREE KINDLE PROMOTION - April 4-5

I would like to invite you to get BONDS OF MATRIMONY on Kindle for FREE on Thursday, April 4 and Friday, April 5 only.  I also ask that you take a couple of minutes to write a review on Amazon, please.

BONDS OF MATRIMONY is the story of a young noble English woman who resents the restrictions placed on her by the men in her life.  In an effort to gain some control over her own life, she and her sister leave England with the intentions of sailing to America to be reunited with their estranged brother.  On the way, she meets the very attractive--and fairly chauvinistic--Texan rancher, Colton Webb.  Outraged by his archaic views on women, she vows to get revenge by making him fall in love with the worst kind of woman...an intelligent one.  The only challenge is that in time, she finds herself struggling to keep from falling for him, too.